House panel approves $300 million for Great Lakes

Despite a White House proposal to eliminate $300 million for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, the House Appropriations Committee voted late Tuesday to fully fund the program through September 2018.

The vote marks an important step toward securing funding for the Great Lakes cleanup program in the federal budget for the next fiscal year.

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The funding was part of an Environmental Protection Agency spending bill. Overall, the bill decreases annual funding for the agency by $528 million. President Trump's budget called for a $2.6 billion cut.

Long-standing plans to clean up the headwaters of Lake Superior have been thrown into doubt by Trump administration budget priorities. Now, Minnesotans are wondering how to fill a multimillion-dollar hole.

President Donald Trump’s 2018 budget plan eliminates a $300 million program to restore the Great Lakes. The plan is sparking concern among environmentalists, because a lot of that money is used to protect the lakes from a voracious fish known as the Asian carp.